The present invention relates to an in-line sander comprising a sander body which houses a motor coupled to an in-line oscillating mechanism. The in-line oscillating mechanism is adapted and configured to move a sanding pad in a linear oscillating motion.
One preferred sanding pad adapted and configured to be coupled to the in-line oscillating mechanism is sometimes referred to in the present application as a corner or detail sanding pad. The preferred corner or detail pad has a substantially flat lower surface and a substantially pointed front portion bounded laterally by two substantially-linear corner-sanding edges having an included angle of less than 90 degrees. A forward end of this substantially pointed front portion of the preferred corner or detail pad protrudes ahead of a front end of the sander body throughout the linear oscillating motion of the pad. The front portion of the preferred corner or detail pad has particular application for sanding into corners of a carcass. For example, with the preferred detail or corner pad installed, when the sander is in use where three workpiece surfaces of a carcass meet one another perpendicularly to form a corner, sandpaper supported by the pad under the forward end of the pad will effectively sand into the corner on any included surface of the corner.
A preferred embodiment of the present corner or detail pad has at least one substantially linear side edge which is aligned substantially parallel to the linear oscillating motion of the sander. This substantially linear side edge of the pad protrudes laterally at least as far as the maximum width of the sander body. With such a configuration, when the sander is in use where two workpiece surfaces meet one another at an included angle along edges of less than 180 degrees, the surfaces of each workpiece which form the included angle can be sanded up to the adjoining workpiece surface by sandpaper supported by the pad under the substantially linear side edge of the pad.
An alternate preferred sanding pad, sometimes referred to in the present application as a shutter pad, has at least one extended substantially linear side edge which is aligned substantially parallel to the linear oscillating motion of the sander and which extends laterally a conspicuous distance beyond the maximum width of the sander body. With such a shutter pad configuration, when the sander is in use on a project such as the louvers on a shutter, where a lower workpiece upper surface is below an upper workpiece by a distance greater than the thickness of the pad but is inaccessible by the sander body, sandpaper supported by the pad below the extended substantially linear side edge can be effectively used on the inaccessible lower workpiece upper surface within the conspicuous distance that the extended substantially linear side edge protrudes laterally beyond the sander body.